BV  652  .M4  1912 
Mathews,  Shailer,  1863-1941. 
Scientific  management  in  th€ 
churches 


Scientific  Management  in  the  Churches 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

Bgcnts 
THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW    YORK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON   AND    EDINBURGH 


Scientific  Management 
in  the  Churches 


Byy 

SHAILER  MATHEWS 

Dean  of  the  Di-vinity  School  of 
The  Uni-versity  of  Chicago 


w 


NOV  1 2 


M^ 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  1912  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  rights  reserved 


Published  February  191 2 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


FOREWORD 

This  essay  was  first  read  at  the  Sagamore 
Beach  Sociological  Conference  in  the 
summer  of  191 1.  The  interest  shown  in 
the  matter  by  the  press  of  the  country 
warrants  the  hope  that  in  its  present  ex- 
panded form  it  may,  to  some  degree,  help 
the  awakening  church  to  magnify  its  own 
mission.  After  all  due  credit  has  been 
given  the  various  movements  in  which 
church  members  have  of  late  been  engaged, 
the  simple  fact  remains  that  the  individual 
churches  themselves  must  decide  whether 
and  how  they  are  to  meet  the  duties 
properly  theirs  in  the  division  of  labor 
determined  by  our  changing  order.  The 
Christian  spirit  must  be  institutionalized 
if  it  is  to  prevail  in  an  age  of  institutions, 


VI  FOREWORD 

and  the  churches  should  be  among  its  most 
effective  agencies.  Only  superficial  observ- 
ers can  doubt  they  will  be  indifferent  to 
their  function  and  their  opportunity. 


SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  IN 
THE  CHURCHES 

Scientific  management  is  a  working 
philosophy  which  by  no  means  necessitates 
in  its  followers  a  knowledge  of  the  details 
of  the  business  to  which  it  is  applied.  In 
order  to  apply  its  principles,  for  instance, 
to  the  manufacture  of  paper,  it  is  not 
necessary  that,  in  the  beginning,  the 
efficiency  engineer  should  know  anything 
about  paper  mills.  A  capacity  to  under- 
stand actual  conditions  and  to  study  them 
in  the  light  of  certain  definite  rules  is  what 
the  efficiency  program  demands.  Mr. 
Frederick  W.  Taylor,  one  of  the  two  chief 
representatives  of  the  system,  never  tires 
of  insisting  that  scientific  management  is 
not  mere  speeding  up,  but  is  a  practical 
philosophy  destined  to  replace  haphazard, 


2  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

traditional  methods.  This  philosophy  may 
be  set  forth  in  this  formula:  There  is  a 
normal  and  a  standard  method  of  per- 
forming a  task  which  is  to  be  discovered  by 
observation  of  those  actually  performing 
the  task. 

The  four  underlying  principles  of  man- 
agement, according  to  Mr.  Taylor,  are:  (i) 
the  development  of  a  true  science;  (2)  the 
scientific  selection  and  training  of  indi- 
vidual workmen;  (3)  the  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  management  with  the  men 
so  as  to  insure  that  all  work  is  done  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  the 
science  which  has  been  developed;  (4) 
intimate,  friendly  co-operation  between  the 
management  and  the  men,  the  manage- 
ment taking  over  work  which  it  is  better 
fitted  than  the  workmen  to  perform,  and 
planning  the  workmen's  tasks  in  detail. 

According  to  Mr.  Harrington  Emerson 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  3 

the  twelve  principles  to  be  used  for  the 
study  and  classification  of  any  given 
process  by  production  are:  (i)  ideals;  (2) 
common-sense  and  judgment;  (3)  compe- 
tent counsel;  (4)  discipline;  (5)  the  fair 
deal;  (6)  records,  reliable,  immediate,  and 
accurate;  (7)  planning  and  despatching; 
(8)  standards  and  schedules;  (9)  stand- 
ardized conditions;  (10)  standardized 
operations;  (11)  written  standard-practice 
instructions;   (12)  efficiency  reward. 

Of  these  principles  the  first  five  and 
the  twelfth  are  described  by  Mr.  Emerson 
as  fundamentally  altruistic  and  applicable 
everywhere  as  well  as  in  shops.  They  are 
also  clearly  less  those  of  practical  method. 
Of  the  other  six,  the  eighth,  ninth,  tenth, 
and  eleventh  are  in  effect  corollaries  of 
the  seventh  and  might  be  summarized  as 
the  formulation  of  definite  programs  for 
standardizing  tasks  under  the  direction  of 


4  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

those  who  have  discovered  such  standards, 
analyzed  any  process  into  its  component 
tasks,  and  have  thus  become  able  to 
organize  the  tasks  into  a  well-rounded 
process  which  eliminates  waste  by  restrict- 
ing the  undirected  initiative  (or  lack  of 
initiative)  on  the  part  of  those  performing 
the  tasks. 

There  is,  accordingly,  no  radical  differ- 
ence in  the  conception  of  the  philosophy  of 
scientific  management  as  set  forth  by  its 
two  leading  exponents. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  philosophy  is 
formal  in  character.  Just  what  a  true 
management,  the  scientific  selection  of  the 
workmen,  scientific  education  and  develop- 
ment are,  obviously  remain  to  be  described. 
Mr.  Taylor  very  properly  emphasizes  this 
fact  in  his  constant  warning  not  to  mistake 
the  mechanism  of  management  for  its 
underlying  philosophy.    The  same  mech- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  5 

anism,  he  declares,  "will  in  one  case 
produce  disastrous  results  and  in  another 
the  most  beneficent.  The  same  mechan- 
ism which  will  produce  the  finest  results 
when  made  to  serve  the  underlying  prin- 
ciples of  scientific  management  will  lead  to 
failure  and  disaster  if  accompanied  by  the 
wrong  spirit  in  those  who  are  using  it.'* 
A  quality  of  leadership  which  such  a 
conception  implies  obviously  is  that  which 
Mr.  Emerson  calls  "supernal  common- 
sense." 

The  elements  which  such  a  program 
involves  when  once  put  into  practical 
operation  include  such  matters  as  time, 
study  of  implements,  and  methods  for 
properly  making  a  given  product;  func- 
tional or  divided  foremanship  in  the  place 
of  a  single  foreman;  the  standardization  of 
all  tools  and  implements  in  the  trades,  as 
well  as  the  acts  and  movements  of  work  for 


6  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

each  class  of  workmen;  a  planning-room 
or  department;  instruction  cards  for  work- 
men; separate  tasks  for  each  workman 
with  a  bonus  for  a  successful  performance 
of  the  task;  the  use  of  various  time-saving 
implements  in  management,  etc. 

This  all  too  brief  presentation  of  the 
essence  of  efi&ciency  management  might  be 
summarized  under  the  following  heads :  (i) 
the  centering  of  attention  upon  operation; 
(2)  the  standardizing  of  operation  in  terms 
of  function  rather  than  of  competition  and 
"speeding  up";  (3)  the  division  of  labor 
by  which  the  planning  and  the  performance 
of  tasks  are  separated  and  each  is  highly 
specialized;  (4)  the  education  of  those 
performing  the  specialized  task  as  to  their 
functions,  and  precise  duties;  (5)  the 
adjustment  of  all  plans  and  tasks  into 
perfect  co-operation  through  an  appeal  to 
co-operative  rather  than  competitive  self- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  7 

interest;  (6)  the  use  and,  when  needed, 
the  invention  of  the  appropriate  equip- 
ment; (7)  the  appeal  to  motives  which  will 
induce  workmen  to  submit  to  the  direction 
and  control  involved  in  the  entire  plan. 

LIMITATIONS  IN  THE  APPLICATION  OF 

SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT  TO 

CHURCH  WORK 

It  would  certainly  seem  that  these  prin- 
ciples might  be  applied  to  organization  of 
church  work,  but  before  an  attempt  at  such 
application  is  made  one  should  compare 
impartially  the  field  of  church  activity 
with  that  in  which  the  efficiency  manage- 
ment has  been  worked  out. 

At  the  very  outset  there  are  to  be 
noticed  certain  fundamental  differences 
between  the  two  fields : 

I.  Church  activity  cannot  be  reduced  to 
concrete  tasks  with  definitely  measurable 


8  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

products.  The  handling  of  pig  iron  or  the 
proper  speeding  up  of  machines  is  radically 
different  from  anything  we  can  expect  in 
church  work.  The  work  of  the  church  is 
essentially  spiritual,  that  is  to  say,  its 
results  are  measurable  only  in  terms  of 
personality  and  social  evolution.  It  is 
true  that  we  do  sometimes  measure  the 
efficiency  of  a  church  in  statistics,  and  such 
measurement  is  not  altogether  false.  If, 
for  example,  there  were  to  be  a  steady 
decline  in  the  membership  of  churches,  it 
would  argue  a  decided  weakness  in  their 
work;  and  similarly  in  the  case  of  money 
raised.  But  such  quantitative  standards 
are  to  be  used  with  extreme  caution. 
There  are  some  churches  fairly  dropsical 
with  statistics,  and  yet  of  no  particular 
social  efficiency,  whereas  there  are  other 
churches  of  comparatively  small  member- 
ship, and  to  which  additions  are  not  very 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  9 

numerous,  which  are  of  great  significance 
to  their  communities.  This  distinction 
between  industrial  and  spiritual  fields  also 
applies,  as  has  been  recently  pointed  out, 
to  the  entire  field  in  which  education  is  a 
factor.  The  efficiency,  for  example,  of  a 
university  is  not  the  same  as  the  efficiency 
of  a  paper  mill. 

2.  A  second  difference  is  obviously 
similar,  namely,  the  normal  standard  of 
efiiciency.  What,  for  example,  is  the 
standard  of  efficiency  in  a  church?  The 
number  of  new  additions,  the  amount  of 
contributions,  the  average  attendance,  the 
number  of  members  engaged  in  altruistic 
service,  the  size  of  the  prayer-meetings? 
No  such  dubiety  exists  in  the  case  of  the 
manufacturing  plant.  The  standard  of 
efiiciency  in  a  shoe  manufactory  is  the 
number  of  shoes  produced  per  normal 
"dose"  of  labor  and  capital.     The  stand- 


lO  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

ard  of  efficiency  in  pig-iron  loading  is  the 
number  of  tons  normally  loaded  per  diem 
per  man.  Nothing  is  more  misleading 
than  the  statements  so  frequently  met 
that  the  cost  of  converting  a  soul  in  one 
part  of  the  world  is  so  much  greater  or  less 
than  the  cost  of  converting  a  soul  in  some 
other  country.  The  task  of  the  church  is 
something  more  than  making  converts. 
It  must  educate,  inspire,  sustain  not  only 
individuals  but  entire  communities.  A 
standardized  cost  of  conversion  is  as 
fatuous  as  a  standardized  cost  of  parent- 
hood. Financial  considerations  are  of 
course  not  without  their  significance,  but 
like  every  other  materialistic  measurement, 
they  are  less  accurate  than  convenient. 

Similarly,  there  is  no  possibility  of  ever 
discovering  just  how  much  work  consti- 
tutes the  normal  task  of  a  given  worker. 
In   the   same    proportion   as   a   man   is 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  ii 

possessed  by  the  passion  for  service  does 
he  disregard  the  clock  and  fatigue.  The 
careful  student  can  formulate  the  more 
efficient  rate  at  which  a  machine  or  even 
a  muscle  can  work,  but  who  would  be  so 
rash  as  to  estimate  the  economical  rate  of 
work  for  a  minister,  an  evangelist,  or  a 
teacher?  Whenever  a  task  becomes  per- 
sonal, it  defies  mathematics. 

3.  A  third  difference  between  the  two 
fields  lies  in  the  relation  of  the  workers  to 
their  task.  In  the  case  of  industrial 
process  the  worker  is  under  authority.  He 
is  paid  and  his  efforts  are  therefore  far  more 
under  the  control  of  the  management  than 
in  the  case  of  the  church.  Business  men 
often  fail  to  grasp  this  difference.  It  is  one 
thing  to  be  in  charge  of  a  group  of  men  who 
must  obey  your  orders  or  be  discharged,  and 
another  to  be  the  leader  of  a  group  of  men 
and  women  who  must  be  persuaded,  often 


12  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

against  their  inclinations  and  at  con- 
siderable sacrifice,  to  do  that  which  must 
be  done  in  a  church.  Obviously  the 
success  of  any  plans  looking  toward  larger 
efiiciency  of  the  church  must  be  condi- 
tioned on  the  readiness  with  which  the 
members  of  the  church  co-operate  volun- 
tarily with  such  efforts. 

And  such  a  difference  as  this  also  applies 
to  the  motive  to  which  appeal  can  be 
made.  The  efficiency  engineer  can  offer 
higher  wages.  The  church  leader  can 
appeal  only  to  Christian  loyalty.  And 
unfortunately  this  is  not  always  to  be 
presumed. 

THE  APPLICABILITY  OF  THE  PHILOSOPHY 
TO  THE  CHURCH 

Yet,  notwithstanding  these  differences 
between  the  two  fields  of  action,  in  my 
judgment  the  philosophy  of  efficiency  can 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  13 

at  least  be  tentatively  applied  to  the  work- 
ing of  churches. 

For,  while  the  ultimate  efficiency  of  a 
church  may  be  difficult  to  standardize, 
efficiency  in  its  actual  organization,  that 
is,  as  regards  its  secondary  and  more 
immediate  tasks,  is  by  no  means  beyond 
our  definition.  The  situation  in  the  case 
of  the  church  is  similar  to  that  in  the  case 
of  the  pubHc  school.  From  the  point  of 
view  of  a  philosophy  of  education  it  is 
hard  indeed  to  formulate  definite  stand- 
ards of  a  school's  efficiency.  But  from  the 
point  of  view  of  its  ability  to  prepare  its 
pupils  to  go  on  to  the  next  grade  of  a 
curriculum,  a  school's  efficiency  is  some- 
thing definite.  It  either  fails  or  it  succeeds. 
A  teacher  may  be  judged  by  such  second- 
ary tests  as  his  ability  to  maintain  order, 
to  keep  a  class  at  an  approved  rate  of 
progress  in  its  lessons,  and  to  perform  such 


14  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

other  definite  tasks  as  teaching  has  come 
to  involve. 

That  is  to  say,  any  institution  deaHng 
with  human  life  may  be  tested  by  its  suc- 
cess in  accomplishing  those  secondary  ends 
which  contribute  to  the  primary  purpose 
for  which  it  exists;  the  wisdom  in  the  selec- 
tion of  such  secondary  ends  being  shown  in 
the  general  contribution  of  the  institution 
to  its  primary  function.  In  the  case  of  the 
church,  efficiency  in  these  secondary  tasks 
must  inevitably  be  tested  finally  by  the 
character  of  its  members  and  its  contribu- 
tion to  the  transformation  of  the  social  life 
of  its  community  and  its  world;  but  the 
tasks  themselves  are  subject  to  organiza- 
tion. It  is  to  these  concrete  problems  the 
church  needs  to  address  itself.  If  its  ulti- 
mate aim  is  really  perceived,  attention 
may  wisely  be  centered  on  those  processes 
which  are  intended  to  minister  to  this  aim. 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  15 

Nor  is  it  impossible  to  approximate  ,. 
something  like  a  standardizing  of  such 
contributory  functions.  There  are  many 
churches  in  which  experiments  have  been  / 
made  with  real  scientific  spirit.  Experi- 
ence has  shown  that  such  efficient  churches 
maintain  certain  services  and  follow  certain 
methods  of  work.  Revivals,  for  instance, 
are  as  carefully  organized  by  the  leading 
evangeHsts  as  is  a  department  store.  We 
know  already  the  effectiveness  of  certain 
forms  of  clubs,  teacher-training,  Sunday- 
school  organization,  even  types  of  prayers, 
songs,  and  sermons.  Modern  charity 
organizations  with  their  abihty  to  stand- 
ardize tasks  and  methods  are  also  models 
for  certain  forms  of  church  activity,  while 
the  day  school  sets  standards  for  certain 
phases  of  religious  education. 

To    no    inconsiderable    extent    a    new 
efficiency    is    already    showing    itself    in 


l6  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

modern  church  work,  both  in  definiteness 
of  ideals  and  in  the  organization  of 
workers.  Scientific  management  has  thus 
data  already  at  its  disposal.  The  im- 
mediate need  is  that  these  data  be  properly 
studied,  supplemented,  and  organized. 
And  this  is  a  problem  of  method. 

THE   SEVEN  PRINCIPLES  OF  EFFICIENCY  IN 
CHURCH  WORK 

I.  The  centering  of  attention  upon  oper- 
ation.— Scientific  management  no  more 
demands,  therefore,  that  churches  lose 
themselves  in  the  discussion  of  a  philoso- 
phy of  religion  than  an  eiSicient  school- 
system  loses  itself  in  the  high  altitudes  of 
a  philosophy  of  education.  Religious  and 
educational  philosophy  are  indispensable 
to  determine  the  main  function  of  both 
churches  and  schools,  but,  although  such 
general  functions  are  fairly  well  under- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  17 

stood  in  church  work,  there  is  pressing 
need  of  a  sharper  definition  of  the  church's 
supreme  function.  In  a  general  way,  of 
course,  the  church  understands  that  its 
function  is  the  salvation  of  the  world,  but 
as  to  the  process  of  salvation,  or  as  the 
efficiency  philosopher  says,  as  to  the 
operation  in  bringing  about  salvation, 
there  seems  to  be  a  considerable  difference 
of  opinion.  The  first  step  in  larger  ^ 
efficiency  must  presuppose  that  a  given  ; 
establishment  exists  for  a  definite  purpose, 
and  that  operation  must  conform  to  that  j  / 
purpose.  Detailed  results  are  wholly  sub- 
ordinate. Handlers  of  pig  iron  are  not 
trained  to  be  efficient  as  workers  of  wood- 
pulp  machines  and  to  switch  men  from  one 
occupation  to  another  is  fatal  to  efficiency. 
At  this  point  there  is  likely  to  be  con- 
siderable difference  of  opinion  as  to  details. 
The  general  aim  of  the  church  may  fairly 


i8  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

be  said  to  be  the  development  and  direction 
of  the  spiritual  life  in  social  service  as  well 
as  in  individual  character.  But  any  given 
church  may  find  that  the  particular  mode 
of  operation  conducive  to  this  end  will 
differ  from  that  of  other  churches  because 
it  needs  to  emphasize  some  element 
peculiar  to  its  own  situation.  Some 
churches,  for  example,  are  in  communities 
which  demand  institutional  work.  Other 
churches  find  such  institutional  work 
inadvisable,  and  must  direct  themselves  to 
other  forms  of  activity.  Yet  the  principle 
undoubtedly  holds  that  a  good  church 
must  first  discover  what  particular  mode 
of  operation  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  enable 
it  to  fulfil  its  primary  function. 

I  venture  to  say  in  general,  however, 
that  a  decision  so  to  act  is  altogether  too 
infrequent  in  churches.  They  are  still  too 
much  bound  by   the   operations   of   the 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  19 

church  of  a  century  ago.  Worship,  of 
course,  can  never  be  omitted  from  our 
church  Hfe  so  long  as  our  churches  stand 
for  rehgion,  but  one  cannot  help  feeling 
that  the  church  which  exists  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  services  on  Sunday  and 
possibly  on  a  week  day  and  the  co- 
operative maintenance,  as  it  were,  of  a 
private  chaplain,  has  never  seriously  faced 
the  problem  of  its  own  efficiency.  If 
every  church  once  a  year  were  to  under- 
take to  study  the  community  in  which  it 
actually  exists  for  the  purpose  of  discover- 
ing its  moral  and  religious  needs,  and  were 
then  to  ask  itself  how  best  it  could  be 
operated  to  meet  those  needs,  organized  ,; 
Christianity  would  be  wonderfully  more 
efficient  than  it  is  today.  Just  as  those 
business  organizations  which  do  not  con- 
stantly attempt  to  readapt  themselves  to 
changing  conditions  find  themselves  out- 


20  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

classed  by  their  more  intelligent  competi- 
tors will  the  churches  who  are  pursuing 
a  laissez-faire  poHcy  find  themselves  of 
decreasing  significance. 

Yet  at  this  point  there  is  need  of  caution. 
In  our  new  zeal  to  make  the  church  of 
social  significance,  there  is  real  danger  lest 
we  translate  too  freely  its  religious  function 
into  philanthropy  and  reform.  To  see  the 
chief  duty  of  a  church,  for  instance,  as 
leading  a  crusade  against  tuberculosis  or 
the  social  evil,  is  to  make  over  a  religious 
organization  into  a  new  competitor  among 
many  bodies  each  with  its  specific  function. 
It  cannot  be  too  often  emphasized  that  a 
church  is  not  primarily  a  philanthropic  or 
an  ameliorative  institution.  Such  work  as 
is  really  needed  in  its  immediate  environ- 
ment it  must  do  or  see  to  having  done;  but 
the  function  of  the  church  is  pre-eminently 
that  of    ministration  to   men's   spiritual 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  21 

needs.  These  it  must  define,  and  for  their 
satisfaction  it  must  organize  itself.  And 
if  in  so  doing  it  keeps  constantly  in  mind 
the  truth  that,  in  the  Christian  use  of  the 
word,  ^^spirituality''  means  Christlike  serv- 
ice, it  will  find  a  vast  field  of  activity  in 
the  evoking,  educating,  directing,  and 
socializing  of  that  Christlike  life  for  which 
it  alone  peculiarly  stands.  Church  efii- 
ciency  is  not  to  be  gained  by  substituting 
sociology  for  the  gospel.  If  a  man  is  to  be 
a  true  brother  of  his  kind,  he  must  first 
in  sympathy  and  impulse  be  a  true  son 
of  God. 

2 .  The  standardizing  of  operation  in  terms 
of  function  rather  than  in  those  of  competition 
and  ^^  speeding  up.^^ — In  too  many  com- 
munities churches  compete  with  each 
other  with  the  simple  standard  of  numeri- 
cal and  otherwise  material  success.  A 
minister  is  employed  who  will  draw  the 


22  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

crowd,  or  agencies  are  adopted  which  will 
serve  to  distance  all  competitors.  Reli- 
gion is  treated  no  longer  as  a  primary  need, 
but  is  introduced  surreptitiously  between 
/  stereopticon  slides.  Doctrinal  prejudice  is 
■^made  the  basis  of  a  competitive  appeal 
hardly  to  be  tolerated  among  rival  business 
houses.  Denominationalism  too  often 
degenerates  into  sectarianism,  and  a  com- 
munity suffers  in  every  way  from  the 
failure  of  institutions  that  should  be 
spiritual  leaders  to  become  more  than* 
institutional  competitors. 

Such  feeling  of  competition  frequently  is 
brought  into  the  churches  themselves. 
They  practice  mere  "speeding  up.''  Con- 
tests are  arranged  between  Sunday-school 
classes  or  between  young  men  and  young 
women  or  between  other  groups  within  the 
church  for  the  sole  purpose  of  building  up 
membership.     There  is  in  this  competition 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  23 

no  conception  of  a  standard  of  functional 
efficiency,  but  simply  the  desire  to  bring 
as  many  persons  as  possible  into  relation- 
ship with  the  church  and,  in  a  general  way, 
under  its  influences.  In  many  cases  such 
efforts  have  a  seeming  success.  Attend- 
ance upon  prayer-meetings  and  young 
people's  societies  is  largely  increased,  and 
doubtless  real  good  is  thereby  accom- 
plished. Such  efforts,  however,  are  essen- 
tially those  of  the  speeding-up  process  in 
industry.  They  are  not  constructive. 
There  is  no  training  of  church  members  in 
essential  church  functions  and  when  once 
the  speeding-up  process  ceases  as,  for 
example,  when  the  "hustling"  minister  or 
Sunday-school  superintendent  departs,  the 
church  frequently  slips  back  to  a  lower 
stage  of  efficiency. 

Further,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties 
already  mentioned  as  involved  in  deter- 


^ 


24  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

mining  any  absolute  standard  by  efficiency, 
it  is  possible  to  determine  in  a  general  way 
what  are  the  agencies  of  efficiency.  These 
are  three:  the  individual  members  of  a 
church;  properly  organized  classes,  clubs, 
societies,  and  brotherhoods;  and  a  church 
as  an  organized  whole. 

The  particular  function  of  each  of  these 
agencies  cannot  be  standardized  precisely 
as  in  the  case  of  industrial  operations,  but 
none  the  less  it  is  possible  to  see  that  such 
functions  actually  exist. 

a)  If  the  individual  church  member  ever 
passes  beyond  a  complacent  assurance  of 
his  own  salvation,  he  at  once  must  see 
that  the  very  heart  of  the  Christian  life  is 
activity.  Religion  in  his  case  must  come 
I  to  mean  less  a  source  of  comfort  and  more 
an  inspiration  for  adventure  in  social 
service  and,  if  need  be,  sacrifice.  To  get 
church  members  to  see  that  they  are  under 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  25 

responsibilities  as  well  as  grace  is  the  first 
step  in  church  efficiency.  To  determine 
just  what  duty  they  must  face  is  of  far  less 
importance  than  to  arouse  this  conception 
of  Christian  life.  No  matter  how  ideal  a 
church's  constitution,  organization,  and 
program,  nothing  can  be  accomplished  if 
its  individual  members  refuse  to  work. 
A  church  as  a  form  of  organization  can 
do  nothing;  it  is  the  church  members — 
actual  men,  women,  and  children — ^who 
constitute  a  church  who  must  act  if  the 
church  is  to  act. 

h)  But  if  a  church  is  not  an  abstrac- 
tion neither  is  it  a  mob  of  well-intended 
anarchists.  The  very  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity is  co-operative.  Church  members 
must  act  together,  either  in  groups  or  as 
a  whole.  The  smaller  groupings  within  a 
church  are  partly  spontaneous  and  partly 
determined  by  leadership.     In  either  case 


26  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

they  should  be  so  mutually  exclusive 
as  to  follow  logical  lines  of  distinction 
between  functions.  Many  churches  find 
that  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  waste 
in  their  internal  organization.  In  other 
words,  these  subsidiary  social  agencies  of 
efficiency  are  not  really  efficient.  Young 
People's  Societies  duplicate  the  work 
of  the  Sunday  school;  Boys'  Clubs,  that 
of  Boy  Scouts;  Men's  Brotherhoods, 
that  of  official  boards;  Women's  Societies, 
that  of  committees  on  general  benevolence. 
Duplication  in  itself  is  not  necessarily  an 
evil;  but  duplication  that  does  not  pro- 
mote efficiency — and  this  is  its  common 
outcome — is  waste.  While  it  may  not  be 
possible  to  eliminate  waste  altogether,  it 
is  one  aspect  of  that  supernal  common- 
sense  of  which  Mr.  Emerson  speaks,  to  see 
that  each  organization  within  a  church 
should  work  within  definite  fields  for  a 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  27 

definite,  unduplicated  purpose.  And  this, 
while  by  no  means  excluding  the  arousing 
of  enthusiasm  by  so-called  inspirational 
methods,  certainly  lays  stress  on  calm, 
business-like  planning,  rather  than  on 
paper-programs  and  mass  meetings.  More 
than  one  splendid  organization  and  move- 
ment has  collapsed  from  an  overplus  of 
inspiration  and  a  deficiency  of  sharply 
defined  function. 

c)  When  we  pass  to  the  church  itself  as 
a  working  unit,  the  difiiculty  is  both 
simplified  and  increased.  For,  on  the  one 
hand  the  function  of  a  church  is  more 
general  than  that  of  its  component  mem- 
bers and  its  auxiliary  organizations,  and 
on  the  other  hand  it  is  more  specific.  It 
is  more  general  because  it  must  work  in 
view  of  an  end  that  is  world-wide  and  the 
common  divisor  of  all  Christian  tasks;  and 
it  is  more  specific  in  that  it  cannot  as  a 


28  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

whole  undertake  such  a  variety  of  tasks  as 
can  its  various  component  parts.  Yet  it  is 
the  function  of  a  church  as  a  whole  that 
must  determine  what  these  subsidiary 
tasks  should  accomplish.  In  it  lies  the 
unity  of  the  other  agencies  of  efficiency. 

If  churches,  after  they  have  determined 
to  give  attention  to  operation,  rather  than 
to  superficial  activity,  were  to  question 
themselves  as  to  just  what  is  to  be  the  aim 
of  this  operation  and  then  proceed  to 
organize  with  the  deliberate  attempt  to 
increase  its  efficiency,  the  results  would  be 
perhaps  slower  in  coming,  but  they  would 
also  be  slower  in  going. 

3.  The  division  of  labor  between  those  who 
plan,  or  the  staff  of  management,  and  those 
who  perform  tasks. — It  follows  that  to  bring 
about  an  elimination  of  waste  and  to  estab- 
lish larger  co-ordination  of  the  agencies 
of  church  work  there  must  be  a  far  more 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  29 

systematic  division  between  the  depart- 
ment of  management  and  the  department 
of  workers  in  churches  than  now  exists. 
The  ordinary  church  organization  is  not 
well  adapted  to  more  than  conventional 
activity.  The  management  lies  generally 
in  the  hands  of  a  single  paid  superin- 
tendent, so  to  speak,  the  pastor;  a  Sunday- 
school  superintendent  who  is  often  without 
any  special  training  for  his  work;  and  a 
board  of  deacons  chosen  because  of  sup- 
posedly spiritual  sympathies,  but  often 
quite  as  conservative  as  spiritual.  With 
such  officers  there  exist  also  others,  such 
as  boards  of  trustees.  In  regard  to  these 
various  forms  of  organization  a  general 
statement  may  fairly  be  made  to  the  effect 
that  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  different 
interests  and  divisions  of  church  activity 
are  recognized  in  a  specialized  church 
organization,  are  such  churches  effective. 


30  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

Thus,  speaking  generally,  the  Episcopalian 
and  the  Presbyterian  churches  seem  to 
show  a  higher  degree  of  consistent  and 
continuous  management  than  do  the 
churches  of  congregational  organization. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  the  one  is  preferable 
to  the  other,  but  that  the  specialization  of 
function  brings  a  power  of  conservation  of 
strictly  institutional  energies.  The  con- 
gregational form  of  polity  demands  all  the 
more  careful  attention  to  management, 
just  as  other  polities  need  more  attention 
to  the  development  of  a  spirit  of  creative 
democracy. 

It  would  seem  to  be  no  very  difficult 
matter  for  every  church  to  undertake  the 
organization  of  what  might  be  called  its 
management  staff.  It  makes  little  differ- 
ence under  what  name  this  staff  exists, 
provided  that  it  undertakes  to  plan  the 
tasks  for  the  various  agencies,  individual 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  31 

and  collective,  of  the  church.  Efficiency 
thus  becomes  specialized  in  view  of  specific 
functions.  Instead  of  relying  upon  recur- ^ 
rent  periods  of  agitation,  called  revivals, 
such  management  would  undertake,  first, 
the  study  of  the  conditions  under  which 
the  church  is  surrounded;  second,  the  i 
adoption  of  a  program  of  specialized 
church  activity;  and  third,  the  selection 
and  adjustment  of  various  members  of 
the  church  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
specific  tasks  involved  in  the  general  plan 
of  management.  On  the  face  of  it,  such  a 
policy  would  seem  to  involve  rather 
elaborate  organization,  but  it  does  not 
seem  to  me  that  this  would  necessarily  be 
oppressively  elaborate.  The  danger  of 
over-organization  would  be  avoided  by  the 
functional  conception.  One  group  of  men 
in  the  church  should  be  held  responsible  for 
planning  the  specific  duties  of  the  church  as 


32  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

a  whole,  although  they  might  also  indi- 
vidually act  in  the  capacity  of  those  who 
carry  out  the  plans;  and  this  manage- 
ment committee  would  see  to  it  that  there 
was  no  hysterical  committee-making,  but 
the  assignment  of  tasks  that  together 
should  make  the  church,  as  a  co-operating 
group  of  spiritual  workmen,  effective. 

The  pastor  would  naturally  belong  to  the 
board  of  management.  Whether  or  not 
any  other  paid  assistants  would  so  belong 
might  be  a  fair  question  to  be  answered 
according  to  circumstances.  The  most 
desirable  plan  would  seem  to  be  that  the 
paid  assistants  to  the  pastor  would  serve, 
as  it  were,  as  functional  foremen  for  the 
purpose  of  outlining  and  directing  the 
specific  phases  of  church  work,  as  deter- 
mined by  the  management  committee. 
Thus  one  such  assistant  might  have  charge 
of  relief  work,  another  of  work  for  boys 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  33 

and  girls,  another  of  religious  education, 
another  of  the  church  canvass.  Even  if 
one  paid  assistant  should  have  charge 
of  more  than  one  such  activity  of  the 
church,  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  plan 
of  management  becomes  specialized  should 
these  paid  assistants  become  specialists. 
There  is  decided  need  of  the  increase  of 
such  paid  assistants  in  large  churches,  but 
no  church  need  wait  until  it  is  financially 
able  to  engage  such  vocational  workers. 
There  are  always  men  and  women  who 
can  be  persuaded  to  serve  as  volunteers 
and  their  earnestness  can  soon  be  disci- 
plined into  efficiency. 

The  separation  between  the  staff  of 
management  and  those  who  perform  tasks 
in  accordance  with  plans  worked  out  for 
them,  cannot,  of  course,  be  carried  out  as 
rigorously  in  the  church  as  in  the  factory. 
As  has  already  been  noted,  the  material  is 


34  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

human  personalities,  rather  than  iron  or 
wood,  and  even  the  performance  of  the 
task  involves  a  larger  degree  of  initiative 
than  could  possibly  be  permitted  in  a 
factory,  under  the  efficiency  engineer. 
None  the  less  I  am  convinced  that  the 
church  worker  ought  to  be  brought  more 
distinctly  under  the  control  of  plans,  and 
that  such  plans  should  be  followed  even  at 
the  expense  of  a  certain  liberty  of  initiative 
and  applied,  as  it  were,  to  building  up  an 
institution  that  as  such  shall  have  social 
significance.  If,  of  course,  we  are  to  have 
mere  "movements"  rather  than  institu- 
tions, this  entire  discussion  is  unnecessary. 
The  initiative  of  the  working  church 
member,  like  that  of  the  patriotic  soldier, 
should  be  restrained  within  well-conceived 
plans  and  a  proper  division  of  labor. 

4.  Education  in  specialized  tasks. — When 
it  comes  to  the  organization  of  those  per- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  .35 

forming  the  allotted  tasks,  it  is  essentially 

involved  in  a  plan  for  an  efficient  church 

that  its  members  should  be  studied  by  the 

proper  representatives  of  the  management 

committee  with  a  view  to  locating  them  in 

such  activities  and  in  such  tasks  as  they  are 

fitted   to   perform.    This,    if   well   done, 

would  involve  the  utilization  of  a  much 

larger  proportion  of  church  members  than 

now  is  the  case.     For  churches'  activities 

are  not  sufficiently  specialized.     The  same 

persons  are  called  upon  to  perform  a  great 

number  of  duties,  and  as  a  result  there 

grows  up  in  every  church  a  large  number 

of  men  and  women  who  have  no  conception 

of  large  social  or  religious  tasks,  beyond 

the   conventional   contribution   of  funds. 

One  of  the  most  beneficial  results  of  proper 

analysis  of  the  function,  and  therefore  of 

the  tasks  of  the  church,  would  be  the 

opening  up  of  positions  in  the  church  for 


36  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

more  of  its  church  members.  There  are 
men  and  women  who  are  particularly 
adapted  to  such  work  as  boys'  clubs, 
women's  clubs,  philanthropy,  Sunday- 
school  teaching,  finances,  co-operation 
with  charitable  organizations,  and  if  the 
management  committee  were  seriously  to 
outline  the  task  their  energies  could  be 
used.  As  it  is  now,  too  many  of  our 
churches  are  utterly  without  real  organiza- 
tion beyond  official  positions.  Theoreti- 
j  cally  the  church  should  be  regarded  as  a 
body  of  workmen  ready  to  perform  definite 
tasks  as  these  tasks  are  outlined  for  them 
by  its  committee  of  management. 

The  conception  of  a  church  as  a  body 
of  properly  directed  workmen  obviously 
necessitates  the  education  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  its  members  in  more  ways  than  one. 
In  the  nature  of  the  case  efficiency  must 
limit  amateur  initiative  on  the  part  of  the 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  37 

church  workers.  They  must  be  taught  to 
work  under  direction  according  to  plans. 
This  is  precisely  what  the  philosophy  of 
efficiency  demands.  Mr.  Taylor  insists 
that  industrial  plants  should  move  slowly 
in  putting  his  system  into  operation.  The 
workmen  must  be  educated  to  see  what 
efficiency  really  is,  as  over  against  the 
speeding-up  process  which  is  the  bane  of 
so  much  industrialism. 

Similarly  in  the  case  of  the  church,  the 
committee  on  management  must  under-/ 
take  the  general  education  of  the  entire' 
church  body  and  of  individuals  in  particu- 
lar in  the  conception  of  what  the  church 
really  must  do,  and  as  to  the  plans  which 
it  must  follow.  In  many  churches  this 
will  prove  the  most  difficult  of  all  tasks. 
Churches  have  not  been  organized  in  the 
business  sense  of  the  word,  and  church 
members  have  rather  been  urged  to  adopt 


38  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

a  highly  individualistic  attitude  toward 
religious  work.  The  efficiency  philosophy 
would  demand  that  various  members  be 
trained  to  their  various  tasks,  some  as 
teachers,  some  as  workers  with  boys,  some 
as  charity  workers,  and  so  on,  and  that 
they  then  be  trained  to  follow  directions 
and  plans.  Obviously  such  education 
requires  time  and  patience,  and  cannot 
have  reached  its  true  results  until  the 
church  conceives  of  itself,  as  it  were,  as  a 
body  of  workmen  each  with  a  specialized 
task  which  is  being  performed  in  accord- 
ance with  plans  set  by  those  who  are  in  a 
position  to  plan  wisely  and  progressively. 
A  church  has  instruments  for  such  edu- 
cation ready  at  hand  in  the  Sunday  school 
and  in  the  Young  People's  Society.  The 
educational  possibilities  of  each  of  these 
institutions  are  still  undeveloped,  although 
the  Sunday  school  is  being  reorganized  on 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  39 

the  basis  of  the  experience  gained  by  the 
pubHc  school.  The  chief  criticism  to  be 
passed  from  the  present  point  of  view  upon 
the  educational  efforts  of  the  church  is 
that  they  do  not  have  Christian  efficiency 
as  their  goal.  The  Sunday  school  is  com- 
mitted to  informational  ideals.  Children 
are  taught — as  of  course  they  should  be 
taught — a  considerable  number  of  biblical 
and  other  facts  and  truths;  young  people 
are  more  or  less  unwillingly  led  to  read  and 
report  upon  some  magazine  or  book.  But 
in  neither  Sunday  school  nor  society  is 
there  a  systematized  effort  at  training 
young  Christians  to  recruit  new  members 
for  the  church,  render  elementary  service 
to  the  sick  or  lonely,  or  to  undertake  vol- 
untarily mission  or  branch  work  in  some 
neglected  field.  Care  for  the  poor  may 
be  shown  at  Thanksgiving  and  Christ- 
mas, but  of  education  for  intelligent  and 


40  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

continuous  social  service,  both  in  the 
church  and  in  co-operation  with  various 
charitable  organizations,  there  is  even 
in  our  best  Sunday  schools  an  all  but 
complete  lack. 

Now  any  attempt  at  scientific  manage- 
ment of  our  churches  would  from  the  very 
start  provide  for  the  education  of  at  least 
volunteers  in  these  and  other  specific  tasks 
which  a  church  must  fulfil  if  it  is  to  be 
really  efficient.  Just  how  such  an  educa- 
tional process  shall  be  maintained  will  be 
determined  according  to  the  particular 
circumstances  of  each  church.  But  of  one 
thing  we  may  be  certain — it  will  involve, 
first,  the  inculcation  of  an  enthusiasm  for 
the  ideals  of  the  church  as  a  working  body; 
and,  second,  the  training  of  young  men  and 
women,  and  even  of  children  in  the  per- 
formance of  tasks  by  participation  in  the 
tasks  themselves  as  they  are  performed 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  41 

by  those  accustomed  to  them.  As  the 
physician  trains  medical  students  in  climes 
so  will  the  staff  of  management  of  a  church 
train  their  younger  brothers  and  sisters  in 
Christian  service  by  example  and  compan- 
ionship. In  church  work  as  everywhere 
else  practice  under  proper  direction  and 
criticism  will  make  perfect.  Let  some 
young  woman  accompany  the  "friendly 
visitor''  or  "visiting  nurse"  upon  her  daily 
routine,  and  she  will  get  real  training  for 
similar  if  not  the  same  service.  So,  too,  if 
the  young  men  of  a  church  be  once  intro- 
duced into  a  well-organized  "follow-up" 
system  of  calling  upon  strangers  in  their 
neighborhood  with  an  invitation  to  some 
definite  social  or  meeting,  they  will  develop 
a  real  interest  as  well  as  ejfficiency  in  such 
forms  of  church  work.  Even  in  the  more 
difficult  and  delicate  work  of  personal  evan- 
gelism, a  church  should  offer  both  oppor- 


42  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

tunity  and  training.     Whether  or  not  it 
shares  in  special  "revival  services,"  its  re- 
cruiting forces  should  be  constantly  ready. 
In  this  process  of  educating  the  church 
J  members  as  to  their  tasks,  there  should  be 
j  large  use  made  of  the  experience  of  success- 
I  ful  business  men,  although  always  with  the 
t  recognition  of  the  differences  between  the 
;  field    of    business    and    church    activity. 
Business  men  can  contribute  much  to  the 
conception  of  efficiency  in  organization, 
and  if  they  once  grasp  the  fundamental 
conception  of  church  function,  they  can  do 
much  in  the  way  of  educating  young  men 
and  women  in  the  same  conception. 

In  such  educational  process  the  pastor 
must,  of  course,  be  a  leader,  and  this  neces- 
sitates the  proper  education  of  the  minister 
himself. 

I  do  not  wish  to  join  in  the  rather 
indiscriminate  criticism  of  theological  semi- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  43 

naries  now  current,  but  my  experience 
leads  me  to  believe  that  the  time  is  coming 
and,  in  fact,  is  already  in  sight,  when 
theological  seminaries  will  undertake  to 
give  future  ministers  a  different  sort  of 
education  from  that  most  of  them  now 
attempt  to  give.  The  curriculum  of  theo- 
logical seminaries,  as  a  class,  is  one  which 
prepares  men  to  minister  to  congregations 
in  little  towns  which  perpetuate  the  social 
life  of  several  generations  ago.  It  rests 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  minister  is  a 
preacher  who  must  give  his  message.  He 
must,  therefore,  study  the  Bible  in  its 
original  languages,  he  must  make  sermons, 
he  must  have  a  system  of  theology,  and  he 
must  know  something  about  the  historical 
development  of  the  church.  He  is  given 
some  general  advice  as  to  how  church 
affairs  should  be  conducted,  but,  except  in 
the  fortunate  cases  of  a  few  seminaries 


44  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

where  the  matter  is  taken  more  seriously, 
he  is  given  only  a  smattering  of  sociology 
and  psychology  and  all  but  no  practical 
training  in  his  actual  vocation. 

Personally  I  am  a  revolutionist  in  this 
matter.     I  believe  that  the  fundamental 
conception  of  a  theological  education  looks 
to  church  efficiency,  i.e.,  the  preparation 
of  men  trained  to  lead  the  churches  to  the 
performance  of  their  peculiar  function  in 
a  given  community,  rather  than  the  train- 
ing of  men  to  remember  and  defend  a 
general  message.     My  idea  of  a  pastor  is 
i  that  of  an  apostle  rather  than  a  prophet; 
"Sa  man  who  institutionalizes  a  belief  and 
/  an  attitude  toward  life  rather  than  a  man 
^who  simply  proclaims  truth.     I  am  con- 
vinced, therefore,  that  the   fundamental 
conception   of    the   minister's    education 
must  be  changed  from  that  of  a  man  with 
*^    \  I  a  message  to  that  of  a  leader  of  a  social 


•■  \^ 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  45 

group    with    a    definitely    religious    and 
moral  function.    I  would,  of  course,  have 
preachers  know  the  fundamentals  of  Chris- 
tianity; and  I  certainly  would  have  them 
trained  to  be  real  preachers  of  the  Word. 
But  I  would  also  have  them  trained  to  be 
chairmen  of  committees  of  management  j 
with  the  capacity  to  study  situations  and] 
adjust  churches  to  situations,  rather  than  | 
merely  to  preach  good  sermons.     In  other 
words,   I   should   train  ministers    to   be 
practitioners  rather  than  lecturers  upon 
spiritual  therapeutics.    I  would  train  them 
to  be  leaders  of  men  rather  than  merely 
exhorters    of   men.    I   would   have    the 
seminary  send  them  out  trained  in  effi- 
ciency rather  than  merely  informed  as  to 
orthodoxy. 

A  curriculum  to  be  efficient  in  producing 
such  ministerial  efficiency  must  be  con- 
cerned with  the  needs  of  our  social  order, 


46  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

the  psychology  of  religion,  the  methods  of 
organizing  church  agencies  from  Boys' 
Clubs  to  Sunday  schools,  and  the  best 
means  of  conducting  studies  of  neighbor- 
hoods and  the  other  concrete  problems  of 
a  pastorate.  It  should  demand  as  sincere 
scholarship  on  the  part  of  its  teachers  and 
students  as  that  demanded  by  any  gradu- 
ate school,  but  it  should  be  so  constructed 
and  so  taught  that  the  minister's  task  may 
be  seen  to  be  worthy  of  young  men  alive 
to  the  needs  of  the  modern  world.  Exe- 
gesis, history,  and  theology  ought  to  be 
made  to  yield  not  merely  the  information 
without  which  a  minister  is  crippled,  but 
also  that  perspective  of  his  vocation  that 
will  show  him  that  the  church  is  no  mere 
survival  of  the  past;  that  it  never  has 
been  static  in  thought  or  method;  and 
that  what  it  has  done  in  the  past  must  be 
done  over  again  in  a  way  that  shall  make 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  47 

it  a  dynamic  force  in  our  modern  world. 
A  theological  curriculum  that  looks  back- 
ward is  a  prophecy  of  churches  that  test 
themselves  by  the  past.  The  modern 
world  is  the  only  world  in  which  the  stu- 
dent will  work.  He  should  be  educated 
under  conditions  as  nearly  as  possible 
those  under  which  he  must  work  in  after- 
life. And  this  means  training  in  actual 
church  tasks  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum. 
A  minister  should  be  scholarly;  he  must 
not  aim  primarily  to  be  a  scholar.  Class- 
room work  is  only  a  means  to  efficiency  in 
leading  a  working  church. 

These  personal  convictions,  which  are  ex- 
plicitly those  of  the  institution  with  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  associated,  are,  I 
believe,  simply  one  phase  of  a  growing 
conviction  in  our  best  seminaries  that  the 
point  of  view  of  ministerial  education  must 
be  changed  to  conform  to  the  changing 


48  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

function  of  the  church.  If  our  churches 
could  have  men  capable  of  planning  their 
work  wisely  in  view  of  actual  conditions, 
and  of  educating  men  into  a  sense  of  the 
function  of  the  church,  and  of  inspiring 
them  as  well  as  educating  them  in  a  proper 
sort  of  activity  they  would  be  remade  in 
a  generation. 

5.  Co-operation  v.  sect  competition. — 
Efficiency  as  over  against  competition 
demands  co-operation  not  only  in  individ- 
ual churches  but  in  the  broader  field  of 
Christian  comity  and  denominational  un- 
dertakings. Personally,  I  have  not  much 
sympathy  with  the  sentimental  rhetoric 
which  so  often  constitutes  the  plea  for 
church  unity.  I  do  not  myself  see  why 
denominationaHsm  may  not  be  regarded  as 
a  phase  of  division  of  labor  in  the  church 
universal;  but  denominationalism  is  not 
sectarianism  and  denominationalism  can 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  49 

be  and  must  be  co-operative.  Such  co- 
operation should  be  something  more  than 
a  truce ;  it  should  be  a  genuine  community 
in  planning.  In  the  same  proportion  that 
the  church  is  conceived  of  as  functional 
rather  than  as  an  end  in  itself  will  this 
become  an  end  in  view.  The  chief  end  of  , 
the  activity  of  the  church  is  not  to  get  men  j 
into  its  fold,  but  to  get  itself  into  society;  I  | 


to  get  its  ideals  into  the  reconstructive  \ 
forces  of  society  itself.  Complete  success ' 
in  such  an  undertaking  will  be  possible 
only  as  men  of  different  churches  plan 
co-operatively.  Bad  politics,  social  evils, 
unsanitary  streets  and  houses,  long  hours 
for  women  workers,  the  labor  of  little 
children,  rotten  municipal  administrations 
will  continue  as  long  as  churches  continue 
to  regard  themselves  as  rival  groups 
without  social  functions.  They  will  be 
to  a  large  extent  mitigated,  if  not  in  many 


so  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

cases  destroyed,  if  the  churches  of  any 
community  deliberately  undertake  the 
process  of  evangelizing  public  opinion. 
This  does  not  imply  that  churches  should 
enter  politics  as  churches,  but  it  certainly 
involves  the  entrance  of  Christians  into 
politics.  A  regenerate  life  that  is  content 
with  unregenerate  institutions  is  an  an- 
achronism. A  church  that  seeks  to  pre- 
pare people  for  heaven  alone  is  even  more 
anachronistic.  A  church  that  lives  atom- 
istically,  unco-operatively  in  the  spirit 
of  rivalry  is  worse  than  anachronisms;  it 
is  an  enemy  of  true  democracy.  But 
churches  which,  under  a  definite  policy 
and  plan,  deliberately  undertake  to  organ- 
ize themselves  for  efficiency  as  spiritual 
forces  in  social  evolution  will  have  tre- 
mendous influence  in  spirituahzing  and 
moralizing  the  changing  order.  The  ambi- 
tion to  have  part  in  such  social  evolution 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  51 

is  growing,  but  it  has  not  yet  reached  a 
stage  of  real  efficiency  for  the  reason  that 
churches  are  not  working  in  accordance 
with  definite  plans  for  specialized  tasks, 
and  have  not  yet  undertaken  to  eliminate 
waste  by  means  of  that  co-operation  which 
all  efficiency  involves. 

Staff  management  and  planning  must  be 
carried  beyond  the  limits  of  the  individual 
church.  There  should  be  in  every  com- 
munity a  general  program  at  work  for  the 
churches  as  a  whole.  A  step  toward  this 
has  been  taken  in  a  number  of  places;  and 
particularly  in  Chicago  there  has  been 
organized  the  Co-operative  Council  of  City 
Missions,  in  which  representatives  of  five 
denominations  meet  monthly  for  the  pur- 
pose of  considering  what  may  fairly  be  said 
to  be  the  co-operative  advance  of  Protest- 
antism in  the  city.  New  churches  are  not 
established  by  one  denomination  without 


52  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

the  knowledge  and,  it  may  be  added, 
practically  the  consent  of  the  others. 
New  and  rapidly  developing  fields  are,  as 
it  were,  allotted  under  terms  of  comity 
among  the  denominations,  and  a  working 
program  has  been  reached  for  activity 
among  foreign-speaking  people.  While  it 
is  not  possible,  of  course,  for  such  a  body 
to  have  authority,  it  is  none  the  less  true 
that  it  is  in  a  position  to  plan.  Many 
similar  movements  are  to  be  found  in 
various  sections  of  cities  where  local 
churches  undertake  co-operative  planning 
for  their  particular  districts.  An  even 
more  comprehensive  plan  is  outlined  by 
the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  and  is  already  in 
operation  among  the  official  boards  of 
Home  Mission  Societies.  On  the  foreign 
fields  it  is  gratifying  to  see  that  this 
co-operative  movement  has  gained  appre- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  53 

ciable  impetus,  and,  as  has  so  often  been 
the  case,  foreign  missions  are  teaching 
home  forces  how  to  adjust  existing  and 
new  agencies  to  the  ends  which  Christianity 
really  exists  to  further. 

6.  The  use  and,  when  necessary ^  the  inven- 
tion of  the  proper  equipment  for  efficiency. — 
To  speak  of  tools  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  a  church  may  seem  inappropriate. 
In  many  ways  a  church  works  without 
tools,  by  the  personal  services  of  its  mem- 
bers. But  its  equipment  is  for  a  church 
what  its  factory  building  and  its  machinery 
are  for  a  manufacturing  establishment. 
Scientific  management  never  neglects  this 
material  side  of  efficiency.  The  substitu- 
tion of  one  sort  of  tool  for  another  has 
often  had  most  remarkable  results.  In 
church  work  the  need  of  proper  buildings 
has  been  very  keenly  felt  wherever  modern 
methods  have  been  tried,  but  systematic 


54  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

study  of  this  vital  matter  has  not  been 
general.  Our  church  building  is  still  too 
much  dominated  by  the  opinion  that  the 
chief  function  of  the  church  is  to  listen  to 
preaching.  ''Meeting-houses,"  many  of 
them  beautiful  and  well  adapted  to  wor- 
ship, are  scattered  over  the  country.  But 
what  equipment  are  we  planning  for  the 
other  agencies  of  church  activity? 

Fortunately  the  Sunday  school  is  being 
better  housed  than  formerly.  Few  build- 
ing committees  would  think  of  approving 
plans  in  which  no  provision  was  made  for 
classrooms.  The  agitation  in  behalf  of 
better  instruction  has  not  been  without 
effect  in  this  regard.  Yet  a  study  of  too 
many  church  edifices  will  show  that  Sun- 
day schools  are  even  yet  imperfectly  fur- 
nished both  with  rooms  and  with  the 
apparatus  that  effective  teaching  demands. 
Classrooms  are  too  often  an  adjunct  to 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  55 

the  audience  room,  and  are  almost  never 
in  sufficient  number.  Economies  are  prac- 
ticed in  erecting  the  workshop  of  the 
church  in  order  to  provide  space  for  oc- 
casionally large  congregations  in  the  "main 
building."  Nothing  could  be  more  illogi- 
cal. A  church  must  ultimately  rise  and 
fall  with  its  Sunday  school.  To  cripple 
or  to  limit  the  expansion  of  the  latter  is  to 
place  a  premium  on  inefficiency.  And  yet, 
I  fancy,  most  churches  will  appropriate 
more  money  for  a  quartette  choir  than  for 
maps,  apparatus,  textbooks,  instruction, 
and  other  indispensable  requirements  of 
a  thoroughly  equipped  Sunday  school. 

There  is  need  also  of  providing  clubs 
and  societies  with  the  proper  means  of 
carrying  on  their  work.  Most  churches 
are  now  being  built  with  kitchens  and 
pantries,  but  few  have  clubrooms,  libra- 
ries, and  other  rooms  for  the  work  among 


56  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

young  men  and  women.  A  most  promis- 
ing tendency  is  to  be  observed,  however, 
toward  furnishing  church  gymnasiums  in 
communities  where  boys  are  to  be  reached, 
but  there  are  still  many  good  people  who 
look  with  some  suspicion  on  this  phase  of 
church  work.  But  every  live  church  needs 
a  parish  house  if  it  is  to  be  a  center  of 
social  life.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
churches  in  the  country  and  in  the 
boarding-house  districts  of  cities,  even 
when  institutional  work  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  term  is  not  undertaken. 

Here  again  staff  management  is  of  the 
utmost  importance.  A  resolute  pastor 
may  be  able  to  have  provision  made  for 
such  needs  in  new  edifices,  but  only  the 
church  itself  will  be  able  to  provide  for 
the  necessary  remodeling  of  old  buildings, 
and  proper  appropriations  for  the  equip- 
ment of  already  existing  agencies. 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  57 

And  one  of  these  days  we  shall  discover 
that  it  is  as  important  to  ventilate  a  Sun- 
day school  or  a  church  building  as  it  is  to 
heat  them !  Growth  in  spiritual  efficiency 
is  hardly  to  be  expected  of  people  who  are 
being  poisoned  by  filthy  air. 

Efficiency  demands  also  that  a  church 
keep  proper  records.  The  days  have  long 
passed  when  the  only  documents  which  a 
church  needed  to  possess  were  an  uncor- 
rected members'  list  and  the  clerk's 
minutes  of  meetings.  A  really  efficient 
church  should  have  application  blanks  for 
membership  which  cover  pledges  to  render 
service,  cards  for  the  assignment  of  par- 
ticular tasks  to  the  various  members, 
blanks  on  which  they  shall  report,  and  a 
card  catalogue,  always  kept  up  to  date,  of 
church  membership  and  of  past  members 
of  the  church  or  congregation.  A  highly 
specialized  church  will  keep  a  record  of  the 


58  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

activities  of  each  member  of  the  church. 
The  work  of  keeping  such  records  is 
considerable  and  a  church  of  any  size 
should  allow  its  pastor  paid  clerical 
assistance  and  have  its  office  in  which  its 
books  and  records  are  kept.  If  this  seems 
to  make  the  church  something  of  a  busi- 
ness establishment  it  is  precisely  what 
^should  be  the  case.  We  have  too  long 
regarded  the  church  as  capable  of  per- 
forming its  possible  services  to  the  com- 
munity without  the  most  elementary 
means  of  administration. 

7.  The  appeal  to  motives  that  shall 
insure  the  performance  of  tasks. — ^At  this 
point  we  meet  a  radical  difference  between 
the  church  and  the  manufacturing  plant. 
In  the  latter  it  is  possible  to  induce  work- 
men to  submit  to  the  new  conception  of 
scientific  management  by  promise  of  a 
share  in  his  larger  production;   that  is  to 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  59 

say,  by  an  increase  of  their  wages.  Such 
an  appeal  is  obviously  out  of  the  question  in 
a  church.  And  yet  experience  shows  that 
no  reform  will  be  stronger  than  the  motives 
which  prompt  men  to  undertake  it.  The 
difficulty  with  too  many  reforms  is  that 
they  utterly  neglect  the  driving  force  of 
motive.  It  is  sometimes  proposed  that 
the  precinct  system  of  politics  should  be 
applied  to  the  church.  In  general  there  is 
xnuch  to  be  said  in  favor  of  this  system  but 
it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  motive 
which  operates  in  party  politics  is  all  but 
lacking  in  church  work.  The  precinct 
captain  is  a  good  party  man  because  he 
gains  influence  in  his  party  sufficient  to 
obtain  office  for  himself  or  for  some  of  his 
friends.  Other  motives  of  course  operate 
in  many  cases,  but  only  rarely  has  there 
been  an  efficient  and  long-lived  political 
organization  built  up  on  motives  which 


6o  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

did  not  ultimately  involve  personal  gain. 
Evidently  such  motives  cannot  be  empha- 
sized in  church  work.  To  what  motives, 
then,  can  appeal  be  made  ? 

There  is  naturally  the  appeal  of  the  great 
object  of  religion  itself — the  redemption  of 
the  individual  and  of  society.  With  the 
most  devoted  church  members  this  will  be 
all  sufficient.  But  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  is  generally  difficult  to  get  men  to 
work  enthusiastically  from  primary  mo- 
tives. The  call  to  serve  God  and  to  bring 
in  his  Kingdom  often  seems  neither  suf- 
ficiently distinct  nor  personal  for  efficient 
I  organization  to  build  upon.  Effective 
motives  are  all  but  universally  associated 
with  more  immediate  although  secondary 
goods.  It  is  here  one  sees  the  worth  of  a 
denominational  appeal  as  also  of  pride  in 
the  local  church.  Neither  of  these  mo- 
tives need  degenerate  into  mere  sectarian- 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  6i 

ism.  Just  as  the  various  branches  of  an 
army  may  have  each  its  own  esprit  de 
corps y  may  the  various  groups  of  Christians 
possess  theirs  even  while  they  are  funda- 
mentally loyal  to  the  main  object  for 
which  the  church  exists.  There  is  a 
decided  need  of  a  revival  of  what  might 
be  called  a  rational  ecclesiasticism,  that  is 
to  say,  an  enthusiasm  for  the  church  as  an 
institution  and  for  each  local  church  in 
particular.  It  has  often  happened  that  a 
church  has  worked  best  when  it  was  least 
established.  Its  members  were  sensitive 
to  a  real  call  to  self-respect.  Loyalty  to  a 
cause  will  work  far  greater  results  than 
constant  appeals  to  duty.  The  first  thing 
which  the  management  of  a  church  seeking 
to  be  more  efficient  should  undertake  is  to 
arouse  this  pride  in  one's  own  church.  If 
this  is  properly  correlated  with  the  ultimate 
aim  of  the  church  in  terms  of  spiritual  life 


62  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

and  social  service,  there  is  no  more  danger 
of  selfishness  and  pride  than  in  the  case  of 
the  appeal  to  ambition  and  loyalty  in  any 
phase  of  life.  A  church  that  cannot  stir 
the  pride  of  its  members  in  its  own  success 
is  never  efficient  and  cannot  be  made 
efficient,  however  many  efficient  indi- 
vidual members  it  may  possess. 

THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGIES  AND 
THE  ELIMINATION  OF  WASTE 

The  net  result  of  the  application  of  these 
principles  to  church  activity  can  be  ex- 
pressed in  the  general  formula  of  conserva- 
tion of  energies  and  the  elimination  of 
waste.  Such  a  formula  will  refer  not 
only  to  the  outward  but  to  the  inward  life 
of  the  church.  A  definite  purpose  and 
properly  adjusted  agencies  and  methods 
will  bear  fruit  in  the  better  performance  of 
definite  tasks,  but  quite  as  truly  in  a  new 


IN  THEJCHURCHES  63 

sense  of  the  church's  legitimacy  and 
mission.  Scientific  management  that  adds 
simply  one  new  cog  to  an  already  compli- 
cated machine  is  a  misnomer.  Both  in 
theory  and  practice  scientific  management 
will  tend  to  limit  organizations  formed 
on  the  impulse  of  the  moment.  The  waste 
in  our  church  life  will  be  reduced  not 
only  by  a  better  distribution  of  tasks,  but 
also  by  concentrating  in  the  church  some 
of  that  energy  and  wealth  which  are  now 
devoted  to  furthering  good  but  overlap- 
ping agencies  outside  the  church.  In  so 
doing  scientific  management  will  also  tend 
to  deepen  a  rational  enthusiasm  for  the 
church  itself.  An  institution  that  has  a 
clearly  defined  function  and  is  properly 
organized  to  fulfil  that  function  never  fails 
of  supporters.  It  is  because  of  a  distrust 
of  the  practicability  of  certain  dogmatic 
beliefs  and  ill-defined  objectives  that  so 


64  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

many  able  men  and  women  turn  from  the 
church  to  other  agencies  of  social  service. 
To  enlist  their  interests  is  a  vital  necessity 
for  church,  society,  and  themselves.  Scien- 
tific management  is  only  one  of  various 
means  of  re-establishing  loyalty  to  the 
church,  but  it  is  certainly  a  means.  To 
apply  these  simple  principles  may  mean 
effort,  but  it  will  also  mean  efficiency  and 
enthusiasm. 

Such  an  attempt  by  no  means  need  be 
indifferent  to  the  caution  with  which  I 
began.  The  spirit  is  more  than  machinery 
or  organization  or  method.  Back  of  all 
plans  and  agencies  must  be  a  readiness 
to  be  genuinely  religious.  The  Spirit  of 
God  is  not  to  be  replaced  by  staffs  of 
management  or  church  members  trained 
to  definite  tasks.  A  prayerless  church  will 
be  impotent  as  a  church,  no  matter  how 
well  organized  or  how  well  instructed.    To 


IN  THE  CHURCHES  65 

substitute  a  program  for  the  gospel  is  to 
defeat  the  purpose  of  the  program  itself. 
Business  methods  are  imperative  in  their 
place,  but  they  cannot  save  a  world.  The 
church  can  have  its  share  in  that  great 
mission  only  as  it  intelligently  embodies 
and  socializes  the  Spirit  of  the  Living  God 
and  seeks  to  make  men  brothers  by  first 
making  them  sons  of  the  Father  whom 
Jesus  revealed. 

Yet  the  recognition  of  the  extra-methodi- 
cal, spiritual  element  in  church  efficiency 
does  not  exclude  or  antagonize  the  plea  for 
thoroughgoing  method  in  church  work. 
Today,  as  in  the  day  of  Paul,  all  things 
should  be  done  decently  and  in  order. 
While  the  churches,  in  their  search  for 
larger  efficiency,  cannot  use  the  economic 
motives  of  scientific  management  in  in- 
dustry, it  is  possible  to  apply  to  them  in  a 
large  measure  the  philosophy  of  efficiency. 


66  SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

Doubtless  experience  will  suggest  many 
points  both  pro  and  con  which  have  not 
been  touched  upon  in  this  essay,  and 
merely  theoretical  ingenuity  is  to  be 
avoided  as  earnestly  as  paper  constitu- 
tions; but  I  am  confident  that  in  the  new 
epoch  upon  which  the  church  is  entering, 
there  will  be  dominant  two  great  concep- 
tions: First,  that  a  church  has  spiritual 
and  social  functions  which  can  be  definitely 
formulated;  and,  second,  that  in  organiz- 
ing agencies  fit  to  enable  a  church  to 
fulfil  these  functions,  it  is  possible  to 
develop  genuine  efiiciency  through  the 
adoption  of  the  general  principles  of 
scientific  management. 


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